Can the U.S. Really Be That Stupid?

Americans aren’t as ignorant as portrayed in the host of polls showing many of them failing tests of general knowledge and history. The tests have been a media staple since 1943, writes Alexander Burns in National Journal, when the New York Times tested 7,000 college students and discovered “a striking ignorance of even the most elementary aspects of U.S. history.” In recent years, similar polls have reported shocking ignorance along the lines of 28% of respondents thinking that Andrew Jackson served as vice president or that 77% of people surveyed were able to name two of Snow White’s dwarfs but not two Supreme Court justices.

Such polls are too eager to make people look ignorant, says Mr. Burns. Often their questions are poorly designed, misleadingly tricky and contain errors. For instance, the people who declared Andrew Jackson as a vice president in a recent Newsweek poll did so in a multiple-choice question that asked what Jackson and Al Gore have in common (they both lost elections where they won the popular vote). As such, it was a better test of obscure trivia than fundamental facts of U.S. history, writes Mr. Burns.

The American Council of Trustees and Alumni said 26% of respondents in its poll were incorrect for saying the Articles of Confederation “established division of powers between the states and the federal government,” even though the document did do that. The question should have asked which document established today’s balance of power (the Constitution). Some of these polls decrying ignorance make mistakes themselves. A poll that found that 60% of respondents couldn’t name the author of “Pride and Prejudice” had incorrectly spelled Jane Austen’s name in the survey (click here and search for “Austin”).

Reporting on these polls generally concludes that people in the U.S. have lost their grasp of history and current events. But Mr. Burns points to a Pew Research Center survey this year that tested knowledge of current events (PDF version here). Comparing the results with a similar survey it conducted in 1989, it found no slip in the scores. It didn’t find any improvement either, however. — Robin Moroney